Although Xia Yi didn't have much fondness for the Federation, in his view, the Sun-Moon Federation was a complete mess in both military and political aspects.
Whether it was Shrek Academy, the Tang Sect, the Spirit Pagoda, or even the Holy Spirit Cult,any of them could plunge the entire Federation into chaos in an instant.
If not for Leng Yaozhu's powerful rise and her unconditional support of the Federation, and if not for Xia Hong's repeated interventions, the Sun-Moon Federation would never have achieved its current status.
But Xia Yi had to admit, the Federation's scientists were truly outstanding.
He didn't understand much about the application of artificial intelligence, but he could easily imagine that once AI became widely applied in various fields, it would bring tremendous changes to the Douluo Plane.
With a flash of light and shadow, the scenery before him changed. Xia Yi found himself standing on a street.
At the same time, a voice sounded in his ear:
"You have entered the Central Division. Please follow the directions to the Central Division competition area to begin your experience. Also, select your participation mode: Soul Master Battle, Mecha Battle, or both."
A faintly glowing white arrow appeared in front of Xia Yi.
Following the arrow forward, he soon saw an enormous, stadium-like building.
He could also see many others like him heading toward it.
From the outside, it still couldn't compare to a fully immersive ecological environment like the Ascension Platform.
It seemed the system still had quite a few areas in need of improvement.
But considering the existence of artificial intelligence, these shortcomings didn't seem too important.
Following the crowd into the massive Central Division stadium, a flash of light appeared in front of Xia Yi, projecting what looked like a holographic screen.
"Please select your participation mode."
Xia Yi, without hesitation, chose both Soul Master Battle and Mecha Battle.
Immediately, a large block of information appeared on the screen.
At the very top, in bold characters, it read:
"Registration Successful."
This meant he had successfully signed up.
Below that were explanations for the rules of the Mecha Battle and Soul Master Battle.
Because there were bound to be many participants, the Federation was divided into five major divisions, assigned based on the location of the Star Battle Cabins.
Since Xia Yi was in the Spirit Pagoda of Shrek City, located on the outskirts of what was once the Star Dou Forest, he naturally belonged to the Central Division.
As for the Mecha Battle, participants could only choose between melee or ranged mechas,with no other options available.
An annotation clarified:
"The Mecha Battle tests pure mecha piloting skills.Pre-competition practice with standardized mechas is allowed,but custom mechas are prohibited."
Standardized mechas—these were the ones provided within the system.No personal mechas could be used.
For many mecha pilots, this was extremely inconvenient.Each pilot was most familiar with their own machine; using a completely unfamiliar mecha would severely reduce combat effectiveness.
However, considering that this system was still in its early stages,Xia Yi found it understandable.After all, if everyone were to bring their real-world mechas into the system,the amount of data processing needed would be astronomical.
Moreover, in Xia Yi's opinion, a mecha pilot's true foundation was what should be tested.
While the mechas were standardized, Soul Masters could still apply their abilities to the mechas, which, in a way, made battles fairer.
Yet, from another perspective, it was unfair.
Why could Soul Masters use their own battle armor, but Mecha Pilots couldn't use their personal mechas?Mechas were also a part of one's strength— after all, people spent great effort crafting their machines; why couldn't they use them?
The Soul Master Battle was simpler:it was a direct showdown in the arena—use any battle armor freely.
From this, it was clear:compared to Mecha Pilots, the Sun-Moon Federation valued Battle Armor Masters more highly.
Judging from the Star Battle Network system,the Federation invested far more into Soul Master Battles.
Both competitions first held divisional tournaments.
The top thirty-two competitors from each division would move on to the final tournament.
The divisional tournament's format was determined by the number of participants—mainly single-elimination rounds supplemented with round-robin matches.The rules were simple: since it was inside the Star Battle Network,there were no restrictions against injuring opponents— participants were expected to go all out, display their full strength, defeat their opponents, and strive for advancement.Simple as that.
However, the simpler the format, the more brutal the competition.
Single elimination meant that an unlucky early matchup against a strong opponent could end one's journey immediately.
For Xia Yi, unless he encountered particularly monstrous talents below the Title Douluo levelor with three-word battle armor, he had nothing to worry about.
Someone like—Gu Yue!
Too bad there weren't duo or trio tournaments.
Otherwise, if he teamed up with Gu Yue and Mu Xi, they could absolutely steamroll the competition.
After reading everything, Xia Yi waved his hand, and the holographic screen disappeared.
He then wandered around the stadium to familiarize himself with the environment.The layout inside wasn't complicated— actually, it was quite beautiful.There were a few areas that caught his attention:
The stadium was divided into a Mecha Battle zone and a Soul Master Battle zone.Participants who signed up for both would have their match times staggered by the system.
Currently, both zones offered practice experiences.
By simply making a selection, one could enter for a practice match.
However, there was a fee—in Federation Coins!
One match in the Mecha Battle area cost 2,000 Federation Coins.In the Soul Master Battle area, it cost 1,000 Federation Coins per match.Each entry allowed for only a single battle.
"No way anyone's stupid enough to think this is expensive, right?"
Xia Yi chuckled.
A single session cost 1,000 to 2,000 coins.Considering that soul spirits often cost tens of millions,this was barely even pocket change.
"Big bro! Since you're so rich, how about you pay and let us have some fun too?"
Just then, a voice suddenly sounded next to him.
Turning his head, Xia Yi saw that two people had somehow appeared by his side.
After entering the Star Battle Network, everyone's appearance was disguised—everyone wore white masks, making facial recognition impossible.
Even the clothing was randomly assigned by the system.
Even people you saw every day would be unrecognizable here.
Only usernames floated above people's heads.
The two in front of Xia Yi had usernames that read:
"Skyfox Carefree King" and "Skyfox King."
"Gu Yue! Mu Xi! You two are unbelievable," Xia Yi growled, grinding his teeth.
Before signing up, they had actually discussed their usernames together.
At that time, Xia Yi had chosen "Skyfox Carefree King" for himself.
But now, Gu Yue and Mu Xi had blatantly copied him!
Seeing those two usernames appear together, Xia Yi instantly guessed it was them—no way this was just a coincidence.
"What? You can pick it, but we can't?"
"Skyfox Carefree King," aka Gu Yue, said smugly.
"If you'd told me earlier that you had such a cool name, I wouldn't have wasted time picking my crappy username,"
Gu Yue said, looking up at Xia Yi's username, still thinking Xia Yi's was the best.
"Too late for regrets now," Xia Yi chuckled.
He also now felt that his username was way cooler than theirs.
"No way! I'm gonna re-register and name myself 'Big Sister-in-Law Says Hi'!"Gu Yue declared, and then instantly disappeared from sight.
"I'm changing mine too!"
Originally just dragged into it by Gu Yue,
Mu Xi immediately followed after seeing her run off to change her username.
(End of Chapter)